SHSU Update for Week of November 7

A Sam Houston State University chemistry professor and two students are seeking solutions to one of the nation's greatest environmental threats--excessive levels of nitrogen associated with the discharge from sewage treatment plants.

Paul A. Loeffler is directing the research under a $14,000 contract from an environmental engineering company, Foster-Wheeler Environmental Corporation. His student assistants are Jason Moore of Centerville, Iowa, and Andy Martin of Huntsville.

"Ammonia nitrogen loading in highly sensitive areas creates 'dead zones' which are prone to algae plumes that kill fish and other marine life," said Loeffler. "Noted examples are problems found in the Chesapeake Bay, Long Island Sound and similar areas along the Gulf of Mexico.

Loeffler's research group is addressing several questions related to
Foster-Wheeler's Ammonia Recovery Process recognized in 1999 as a "Research &
Development 100 Award" winning technology. In addition to removing the ammonia waste, the process reformulates it as ammonium sulfate or ammonium phosphate commercial grade fertilizer.

Rick White, who chairs the Sam Houston State University Department of Chemistry, said that the project is not his department's first or likely its last.

"This project also reflects the Department of Chemistry's ongoing
collaborative research efforts that bridge academic research activities, government interests, and private business ventures," said White.

"Just recently, the Department of Chemistry finished a six-year $3 million contract to develop an environmentally benign process for treating munitions wastewater at the Radford Army Ammunitions Plant in Radford, Va."

A diverse program of music, including works by several contemporary composers, will be featured in the Sam Houston Brass Quintet faculty recital at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday (Nov. 10) in the Recital Hall.

Clive Swansbourne, the music department's new coordinator of piano studies, will join the group for Bernard Heiden's "Sextet," a piece commissioned for a 1984 meeting of all of the international brass societies.

Also featured will be Claude Bolling's "Fugace," Joseph Horovitz's "Music Hall Suite," Morley Calvert's "Suite from the Monteregian Hills," a "high renaissance entry piece" from Alexander Orologio, and "Fanfare for a Dignified Occasion" by Sir Arthur Bliss.

Admission to Wednesday's concert is $5 for the general public, $3 for non-SHSU students, and free for SHSU faculty, staff and students with university identification.

Sam Houston State University will be linked to a 270-campus network Monday for a speech and question and answer session with retired General George Joulwan, former commander of United States and allied forces in Europe.

Joulwan's topic will be "NATO-U.S. Involvement in the Balkans." The program is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. in the Beto Criminal Justice Center Kerper Courtroom, with a one-hour presentation and a half hour of questions to follow.

Joulwan, who retired in 1997, conducted over 20 successful operations in the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East. He established the first strategic policy for U. S. military engagement in Africa, and orchestrated the State Partnership program linking American reserve forces from 23 states with the former non-NATO countries and newly independent democracies of Europe and the former Soviet Union.

The Balkan region is still unsettled and is expected to be so for some time. According to a U. S. Department of Defense news release this week, there are 6,200 U. S. personnel in the 30,000-person NATO stabilization force in Bosnia.

The Defense Department announced that while the United States force will be reduced to 4,600, the next U.S. rotation to Bosnia in March will be headed by the 49th Armored Division, Texas National Guard.

Joulwan's presentation is sponsored by the Sam Houston State departments of Military Science and Political Science.

A World Wide Web site originating at Sam Houston State University has been notified of its selection as one of the best educational resources on the Web by StudyWeb, a listing of educational resources for students and teachers.

Advancing Women in Leadership, the Web's first online refereed journal on women's issues, was founded in March, 1997 by College of Education and Applied Sciences faculty members and administrators Genevieve Brown and Beverly Irby.

"Since 1996, our expert reviewers have scoured the Internet to select only the finest sites to be included in StudyWeb's listing of educational links," Irby was told. "Each site in StudyWeb includes a detailed review describing its editorial and visual merits."

Including their first issue more than two years ago, the AdvancingWomen site has published six issues, with approximately 30 articles selected from some 15 to 30 articles submitted to them for each issue, as well as book reviews.

Grants, including one from Sam Houston State University, help pay for student workers and promotional expenses for production of the Advancing Women site.

The SpeakEasies Benefit Golf Scramble, a fund-raiser for the speech communication group at Sam Houston State, is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Nov. 20 at the Country Campus Golf Course.

The format is a three-person scramble for 18 holes. Entry fee is $25 per player and does not include cart rental. Players may sign up at the course until 8 a.m. on the day of the event or by calling 409.294.1497.

Trophies and other prizes will be awarded to the top three teams, as well as for longest drive and closest-to-the-pin.
Proceeds will be used for the SpeakEasies scholarship fund and service projects.

Terry M. Thibodeaux, associate dean, College of Arts and Sciences, is the group's faculty adviser.

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